Improvement in field artillery



STEPHEN W. WOOD.

Improvement in Fietd-Artill ery.

N0 126,607 Patented May 7,1872.

PATENT- OFFICE.

STEPHEN W. wool), on CORNWALL, NEW YORK;

IMPROVEMENT IN FIELD ARTILLERY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 126,607, dated May 7, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN "W. W001), of Cornwall, county of Orange, and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Field Artillery; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making part of this specification, and representing the invention in perspective.

To render more effective batteries of field or light artillery without increasing the'number of men, gun-carriages, caissons, horses, and trappings, my invention consists in the combination, with one gun-carriage for light artillery, of a cannon or field-piece carrying large shot, and a Gatling or other machine or repeating gun for throwing singly small shot.

In the drawing, which represents the essential parts of the invention necessary to show the combination and arrangement of the elements composing it, let A A represent the wheels of the carriage; B, the axle-tree; and G, the trail. The gun D, for large shot, is represented as mounted above the axle-tree, and the Gatling or other gun for small shot as arranged below the axle-tree; but the positions of the two guns may be interchanged. They are represented as both mounted in a yoke, H, which is hung on the axle-tree B, the upper gun D, swiveling by a pivot which projects vertically downward, and turns in a horizontal plate or disk, at, of the yoke; and the lower gun G in like manner swiveling by a vertical pivot in another horizontal plate or disk, 12, of the yoke; and the elevating-screw I, which gives the elevation to both pieces together, is stepped in a curved slot, f, or on a curved track of the trail, whereby the guns can be quickly turned to any direction; or the direction may be given by the trail in the usual manner.

The above-described arrangement is intended to show one way only of combining the two guns for giving them direction and elevation. Other modes may be adopted-as, for example, the guns may be, mounted by trunnions, and the Gatling or small-ammunition gun may have a separate turning movement for direction.

This arrangement of two kinds of gun on one carriage renders a battery doubly effective without requiring additional men and horses. The ordinary field-piece on the carriage fulfils its purpose at long range, as usual; and the Gatling or small-ammunition gun is always ready for immediate use, and is very effective for close engagements, rendering it very difficult, if not impossible, to take such a batterv.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, substantially as described, witha gun-carriage for field artillery, of a cannon or field-piece for large shot, and one or more Gatlings machine or repeating guns for throwing small shot, for the purpose herein specified.

STEPHEN W. WOOD.

Witnesses:

J. S. BROWN, B. D. 0. SMITH. 

